Taiwan sentences 4 ex-ruling party members on China spying
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Beijing and Taipei have been spying on each other for decades, but experts say the threat to Taiwan is greater given the risk of a Chinese invasion.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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TAIPEI – A Taiwan court handed jail terms on Sept 25 ranging from four to 10 years to four people, including a former staff member in President Lai Ching-te’s office, for spying for China.
The four were charged in June after they were expelled in May from Mr Lai’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party – which advocates for Taiwan’s sovereignty – over suspected espionage.
China claims democratic, self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory and has threatened to use force to annex it.
Taipei accuses Beijing of using espionage and infiltration to weaken its defences.
The Taipei District Court said in a statement that the four were convicted of violating the Classified National Security Information Protection Act for leaking state secrets to China.
“The information they spied on, collected, leaked and delivered involved important diplomatic intelligence... which made our country’s difficult diplomatic situation even worse,” the court said.
The espionage happened “over a very long period of time”, including sharing itineraries of high-level officials such as the foreign minister, which “endangers the country’s diplomatic security and is highly condemnable”.
The heftiest sentence, 10 years, was given to Huang Chu-jung, who previously worked for a New Taipei City councillor.
According to the court, Huang mixed public information with “secrets and confidential information” he received from Ho Jen-chieh, an aide to then foreign minister Joseph Wu, to write analysis reports and “sent (them) to Chinese agents using encrypted software”.
Ho was sentenced to eight years and two months in prison.
Huang and another defendant, Chiu Shih-yuan, who received six years and two months, were also convicted of laundering around NT$7.2 million (S$305,000) in illicit gains.
The fourth defendant, Wu Shang-yu, who had worked for Mr Lai when he was vice-president and then president, received a four-year prison term.
Beijing and Taipei have been spying on each other for decades, but experts say the threat to Taiwan is greater given the risk of a Chinese invasion.
Taiwan’s National Security Bureau said previously that 64 people were prosecuted for Chinese espionage in 2024, with prison sentences of up to 20 years. AFP
